It's Too Nice To Be DC In August (D+65)

"The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles." - Unknown

Time is moving right along. We're now at transplant + 65 days! It's hard to believe. The last week was medically uneventful. Elise had a few appointments and lab work a few days, but nothing much to report. She's taking drug called Sirolimus which is an immunosupressant that is intended to help prevent graft vs host disease (GVHD). Getting the level of it in her blood just right is very important and we've been adjusting her dose a bit this past week, but other than that there hasn't been much.

One of the outward side effects of the palifermin (which was used to reduce the duration and intensity of mucositis) was a darkening and then peeling of odd patches of skin. It was almost like getting a sunburn. But in some off places (like the arm pits). The exfoliating seems to be mostly done now. It looked worse than I think it felt - she didn't much complain about it except just before peeling. But if you're ever going to need this med it's a side effect they didn't say much about.

Overall Elise is doing great. We've been taking walks and doing some tourist things. We had a great visit with friends in Haymarket, VA on Saturday. It rained a bunch on the way out there but the payoff was Sunday morning. When we woke up it was cool (60's) with patchy clouds. So we decided to do a walking tour of the major monuments in the national mall and tidal basin area on Sunday. It was an awesome day and our feet got a real workout.

This week holds more tests and appointments, but nothing significant is planned. If the schedule holds we've got about 5 weeks left here in the DC area. Becky's birthday is coming up so we've got a little trip planned to Ocean City. We're thinking about swinging south on the way home to hit Jamestown as a "field trip" since they're studying early US history in Elise's history class. We're also looking at other short trips to take advantage of being out here, but we've got to fit them around appointments, tests and school.